I'm delighted to share a special blog titled, Storied Charlotte, written and monitored by Professor of English and Interium Chair of the Theater Department at University of North Carolina Charlotte, Dr. Mark West.
The Bristlecone Writers' Group is the story about what happens when a member of the group dies and the others find a list of banned books in her briefcase. Solving the mystery brings the members closer together and changes how they feel about their dead friend and about life.
Auras of Deceit, is a cozy crime mystery that takes place in a ficticious active retirement community, called Trivolity. But, the unique part of this story is that the writers group, consisting of five writers, collaborated and authored the novel. They are NOT the story between the covers of the book.
However, even though Auras of Deceit is not about the Lake Norman Writers Guild, the guild itself has a compelling story of its own.
When I queried Dr. West, from Storied Charlotte about Auras of Deceit, and shared that it was a collaboration of five authors, he contacted me to ask how that was even possible. The following is the result of our conversation.
On the Writing of a Collaborative Mystery Novel
Earlier this summer, Sandra Warren contacted me about a new mystery novel that she and four other area authors had collaboratively written. Their novel, Auras of Deceit: A Trivolity Cozy Mystery, is set an “active adult community,” which is a phrase people use these days when referring to 55+ communities.
As a scholar, I often engage in collaborative projects, but collaborating on a scholarly work and collaborating on a novel are two entirely different enterprises. When I learned about the novel that Sandra and her collaborators had written, I was reminded of The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner collaboratively wrote in 1873. Twain and Warner were neighbors in Hartford, Connecticut, and they took on the project at the suggestion of their wives while they were all together at a dinner party. In the end, this satirical novel helped define the graft and excessive materialism associated with American culture during the late 19th century, but the process of writing the novel did not go very smoothly.
If Twain and Warner had trouble melding their two different writing styles, I wondered how Sandra and her collaborators were able to meld the different writing styles of five writers. I contacted Sandra and asked her about how she and her collaborators were able to work together on a jointly written novel. Here is what she sent to me:
Writers tend to be solitary people, burrowed alone for hours each day at their desk, tapping out what they hope will become the next great novel; a classic for readers to enjoy until the end of time. So, it’s hard to imagine a collaboration of two writers ever agreeing on anything. Five writers working together sounds like a recipe for failure, fights and loss of friendship. But that didn’t happen with a group that now calls themselves the Lake Norman Writers Guild. In fact, if you listened at the door of their writing room you would have heard nothing but friendly conversation, amicable compromise and raucous laughter.
How did two poets, Annette Larkin and John Stickney, a sci-fi writer, James Salkeld, and two historical fiction writers, E. Jax Willoughby and Sandra Warren, meet, and what was their collaborative secret?
The writers all met at Trilogy Lake Norman, in Denver, one of several over-55 communities, in and around the greater Charlotte area. John came from Ohio, Sandra & Vicki from other parts of North Carolina, and James and Jax from Charlotte. Sandra, Vicki and John attend monthly meetings, workshops, open Mic nights and classes as members of the Charlotte Writers Club.
The secret to their successful collaboration was, first and foremost, respect. Even though not everyone was published, the writers respected each other’s imagination, creativity and writing skills. No one writer had more control than the other.
It began with the suggestion that it would be fun to write a murder mystery together. After the laughter died down, the big question was how? The writers started off hit and miss, and finally came up with a method that worked for them. It may not work for any other group.
In the beginning, everyone prepared a one-page murder mystery idea to be read and voted upon at the next meeting. The concept of a party where a ‘murder game’ is played, was chosen.
For the next meeting, character profiles were needed for the party hosts, the primary attendees, a victim, and the investigator of the crime. Each member created and developed a character profile to present. When the profiles were read, we were all amazed at the complexity of the characters, their physical descriptions, personalities and the secrets they held.
Our cozy crime novel was off to a great start!
The next challenge was to get each character to the party. Suggestions to think about included: their relationship to the hosts and to the other characters; what they wore; feelings about attending; did they go alone or with someone; how they got there; did they arrive early, on time, late. Each character’s role at the party was discussed and enhanced by the group.
The idea of where to start the novel and how it should proceed evolved from the in-depth character descriptions. At the next few meetings, various writers wrote a chapter or two and presented them to the group. Slowly, the framework of the crime, the plot, possible motives, and suspects emerged.
Critiquing the novel in progress, could have been the writers undoing, but it was agreed, right from the beginning, to put egos aside and work together with a “majority rules” mentality.
Chapter contributions were posted on Google Docs so each writer could read, critique and suggest changes via the comment feature. Punctuation and grammar were corrected immediately. Other concerns were brought to the next meeting for discussion and consensus.
One person in the group, James, used the Scrivener writing program to keep all the corrected versions of the novel together. Through Scrivener he was able to easily move chapters around, make changes, and eventually format the book and the eBook for publication.
The end result? A cozy crime mystery novel titled, Auras of Deceit: A Trivolity Cozy Mystery. The story marries a lighthearted look at life in an active adult community with daring and intrigue, when a “game of murder” goes horribly wrong.
In case you’re wondering, yes, a second cozy mystery is in process.
Auras of Deceit is available through Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats in English, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
The Lake Norman Writers Guild members are available for presentations and book discussions, in-person or via Zoom, individually or as a group. Contact: Sandra@arliebooks.com
The Lake Norman Writers Guild Members are:
Annette Larkin – Corporate escapee, life coach, world traveler, and aspiring poetess.
James Salkeld – a writer of a speculative fiction novel called The Empathy Circuit.
John Stickney – A poet. His poetry and short crime fiction has appeared in online and print magazines such as Tough,Needles, Thug Lit, and Demolition among others.
Sandra Warren – an award-winning author with publications in multiple genres. www.sandrawarren.com
E. Jax Willoughby –a writer of a historical fiction novel titled Comfort’s Rebellion. jaxwilloughby.com
I thank Sandra for reaching out to me and for providing the story behind the writing of Auras of Deceit, and I congratulate all the members of the Lake Norman Writers Guild on writing a murder mystery without murdering any of their fellow guild members in the process.
There is a famous line associated with the crime drama The Naked City, and the line goes “There are eight million stories in the naked city.” Well, I don’t know if there are eight million stories in Storied Charlotte, but our community has produced many good murder mysteries, including Auras of Deceit.
For more information about Lisa Williams Kline and her books: www.lisawilliamskline.com
Auras of Deceit is available through Amazon.com in Spanish, Italian, German, and Portuguese as well as English.
Contact Sandra Warren and her books: www.sandrawarren.com
Storied Charlotte Blog https://pages.charlotte.edu/
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